Palestinian leader in Chile: Israel worse than Nazis

President of Palestinian Federation of South America Mauricio Abu-Gosh says Israel has "outdone its teachers."

pro-Palestine rally in Peru_150.
(photo credit:Reuters)

“The Nazis were children next to the actual Zionists as they are incarnated
through the State of Israel,” Mauricio Abu Gosh, a leader of the large and
influential Palestinian community of Chile, was quoted as saying in Chilean media on Sunday.

He added: “The Palestinians
are suffering directly from a brutal genocide at the hands of the Israeli
army.”

Abu Gosh rejected Agosin’s comments that ties between Jews and
Palestinians in Chile used to be good before taking a turn for the worse over
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the two communities were “never close
and I can’t imagine how they can be more distant at the moment.”

The
Palestinian Federation of Chile represents an estimated 400,000 Chileans of
Palestinian descent, the largest such community in South America.

Last
April, Abu Gosh was denied entry to Israel on grounds of “security concerns” and
inciting hatred. The Chilean government issued a statement at the time
criticizing Jerusalem’s decision not to admit Abu Gosh into the
country.

Gabrial Zaliasnik, a former president of the Jewish community in
Chile, responded to Abu Gosh’s remarks on Sunday, accusing Palestinian-Chilean
leaders of worsening ties between Chilean Jews and Palestinians.

“I have
so many Palestinian friends and my father had many more,” Zaliasnik wrote on
Twitter. “I can’t understand the hatred of the current leadership of the
Palestinian Federation.”

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